Berkeleyan

Journal focuses on 'transitional justice'

25 April 2007

A new academic journal from Oxford Journals focuses on the growing field of transitional justice, defined by the publisher as "the study of strategies employed by states, civil society, and international institutions to deal with a legacy of human-rights abuses, and to effect social reconstruction in the wake of widespread violence."

The International Journal of Transitional Justice is co-edited by Berkeley's Harvey Weinstein, a clinical professor at the School of Public Health and a senior research fellow at the Human Rights Center, which co-publishes the new journal with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa.

The first issue features forewords by Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The latter writes: "We cannot hope to make this world more secure by employing tactics which are based on the dehumanization of others, a reliance on power and aggression, the selective application of human rights, or the demonization and marginalization of entire peoples. These are shortsighted strategies that can only lead to further conflict, insecurity, and injustice in the long term. As humanity, we have the capacity to coexist - if it can happen in South Africa, the goal of reconciliation can be achieved anywhere; even at the global level."